IDA invites you to join our free, monthly Vegan Spirituality Online Gathering with hosts Peace to All Beings author Judy Carman and IDA’s Sustainable Campaign Director Lisa Levinson. We welcome guest speaker Lisa Kemmerer, animals and world religions scholar, this Sunday, July 12th from 5-6pm PST. Register for the call here.

For more information about IDA’s Sustainable Activism Campaign and Director Lisa Levinson, please read this column on our Sustainable Activism Blog by guest blogger Denise Papas, a freelance television producer/writer who specializes in biographies. Denise is featuring members of our Council of Sustainable Activism (CoSA) to introduce them to our supporters. CoSA provides emotional and spiritual resources for animal activists.

Lisa Levinson is the Director of IDA’s Sustainable Activism Campaign, a trained movement therapist, museum exhibit designer, and mosaic artist. She uses her therapeutic skills to promote self-care for animal activists. Lisa is the co-chair of IDA’s Council of Sustainable Activism and develops exhibits as a volunteer for the National Museum of Animals and Society.

Lisa made a conscious choice not to eat animals while working as an environmental educator at Hidden Villa Ranch in Los Altos Hills, California, where she witnessed the traumatic effects of small-scale animal agriculture. Her first years of animal activism in the mid-1990s were rooted in individual efforts. She rescued stray cats and other animals while working as a mosaic mural artist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She helped start a local organization offering trap-neuter-return services for stray/feral cats and volunteered for the Schuylkill Wildlife Rehab Center. Her apartment was a way station for feral cats, opossums, and raccoons.

In 2005, she co-founded “Public Eye: Artists for Animals,” a project of the nonprofit Mobilization For Animals, with fellow artist-activists Zipora Schulz and Jim Harris to teach compassion for animals through the arts. Together, this dynamic trio produced original multi-media dance performances, art exhibits, musical puppet shows, storytelling performances, musical theater, veggie cabarets, fashion shows, and other innovative events for patrons of libraries, schools, and the Philly Fringe to expose animal abuse and promote cruelty-free consumer choices. Their grassroots efforts garnered support from The Culture and Animals Foundation run by animal rights scholar Tom Regan.

One misty spring evening while driving home from work as a movement therapist for the Renfrew Center for Eating Disorders, Lisa noticed hundreds of toads getting squashed by cars while attempting to cross a busy road. This sad and distressing sight inspired her to start the Toad Detour to help migrating toads cross the streets of Philadelphia safely. In 2009, she convinced the city to approve an official detour for migrating toads, which spread like wildfire through the media. Press coverage helped grow the movement into more than two hundred volunteer toad spotters, crossers, and counters. Her team of dedicated volunteers led Toad Walks for hundreds of local families and facilitated educational programs in nearby schools. The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education has since adopted the Toad Detour, which continues to save thousands toads and countless toadlets each spring.

In 2010, Lisa established “Vegan Spirituality” to explore veganism as spiritual practice by hosting retreats, monthly gatherings, and online forums. Lisa expanded “Vegan Spirituality” events to California, where she moved in 2012. At the first annual Vegan Spirituality Retreat in Malibu, she met IDA President Dr. Marilyn Kroplick, who approached Lisa with her vision to provide emotional and spiritual services for animal activists. Under the auspices of IDA, Lisa assisted Dr. Kroplick in developing the Council of Sustainable Activism founded on the principles of non-violent communication, trauma stewardship, and sacred activism. CoSA now offers self-care tools and emotional support for animal activists via blogs, workshops, webinars, retreats, and festivals. Lisa envisions a future where the animal rights movement grows exponentially because activists are practicing sustainable activism and leading more joyful lives.

Denise Papas Meechan is a producer and writer for film and television shows such as “Fashion Police”, “Full Frontal Fashion” and “Behind the Label.” She is also a script moderator for the NYC Screenwriters Collective. She uses her production talents to volunteer as a humanitarian producer focusing a camera on people whose stories capture an altruistic perspective on life. Denise was awarded an Emmy in 2006 for her work on the cult television comedy game show “Subway Q&A” hosted by Rich Collier. She is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA).